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Lewis gun
History Lewis machinegun holds the undisputable title of being first practical light machinegun. Even though it`s looks don`t suggest so, Lewis had been the ancestor of large chunk of automatic weaponry nowadays. Developed in 1911 by US army Colonel Isaac Newton Lewis, it was a reworking of design by Samuel McLean - initial design was so cumbersomely weightened over with gadgets, that it provided no combat value. Isaac Lewis took the initial design, stripped all surrounding gadgets, and redesigned the gun in quite straight-forward manner. End result is well-known to everyone. Lewis gun was mounted on the airplane, to demonstrate the viability of aircraft combat. However, US army had promptly rejected the whole idea, asserting, that airplanes could not be viably used in warfare somehow else then in scounting role. (About two years later, this illusion had been quite violently disrupted.) Later, around 1913, Lewis had been tried by army for the role of infantry machinegun, and again, rejected. Isaac Lewis had retired from US army, and traveled to Europe shortly after, where in Belgium, he formed Armes Automatiques Lewis, which began the production of those guns in 1914. In the same time, Isaac Lewis had struck a deal with Birmingham Small Arms Co., granting license for Lewis machinegun production. Lewis machineguns were adapted in service in UK and Belgium armies, and widely exploited in World War 1. Garmans, who suffered numerous casualties from this gun during air combat, nicknamed it "Belgian Rattlesnake". Loaded with incendiary bullets, Lewis machineguns mounted on quick airplanes had proved to be lethal against hydrogen-filled German zeppelins. Germans instantly adapted every captured Lewis gun in service. Reliable, cheap and simple, Lewis guns served valiantly through the World War 1, and were exported in various countries, including, ironically, USA. Among others, tsarist Russia had procured a big number of Lewis guns, which served on with Red Army until the introduction of Degtyarov DP-29. During World War 2, Lewis machineguns saw action again, mainly in 1941-1942 years. Employed by UK, they were used to compliment the lack of Bren guns, and utilise stocks as fully, as possible. Interestingly enough, German FG-42 seems to borrow heavily from Lewis design. In turn, M-60 borrows action from FG-42 - and this is only one of examples of Lewis technical solutions living on through generations of firearms. Description Technically, Lewis machineguns are gas-operated, air-cooled weapons. "Stovepipe" barrel shroud is often mistaken for water cooling, but that is not so. Rather, Lewis guns have shroud project in front of the barrel, tapering in. This form utilises the discharge of powder gases during fire to forcibly draw air through the shroud, thus cooling the barrel. Some sources indicate, however, that this shroud was quite unnecessary. Pan magasines were of two types - for 47 and 97 rounds. Big drums for 97 rounds were intended for the aircraft-installed guns, as they were quite sensitive to rough handling. Smaller 47-round drums were sturdier, but they were still quite sensitive to fouling, as their design had them open at the bottom. Lewis machineguns had interesting technical solutions - pan was driven by gas-operated cam, rather then manually-wound spring. Another interesting feature was return spring, which was similar to clockwork spring, wound and unwound by another cam. Lewis machineguns are considered to be among best machineguns of World War 1. Ideas incorporated in them were used in numerous other firearms. Arguably, Lewis guns are ancestors of whole class of light machineguns. Category:Machine Guns